In a measurement system, a sensor has an electrical response to sensor stimuli that are measured by the sensor. Mathematically, the electrical response may be quantitatively complex—having both real and imaginary components. In such measurement systems these components typically may be used to determine the amplitude and phase components of the sensor's response to the stimuli. During operation of the measurement system, the sensor's response is analyzed to characterize the stimuli.
Such measurement systems include other components required to operate the sensor. These include power supplies, transmitters, and receivers for driving, receiving, and conditioning signals input to and output from the sensor. These components also may have a response that varies based on environmental stimuli. These environmental stimuli can include temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and others. The combination of responses of these components to environmental stimuli causes measurements taken by the system to be erroneous. Thus, calibration is required for these components to remove the error that they induce on measurements.
Typically, such measurement systems are manufactured with rigid design specifications that require transmitters and receivers in the system to be produced such that the response of each component to certain environmental factors will be known within a predetermined degree of certainty. These specifications increase the manufacturing costs of such systems. Such systems also require certain environmental factors to be controlled within a predetermined range during measurement operations thus limiting the operating applications of the measurement systems.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for techniques to calibrate a measurement system that may reduce the manufacturing costs of the system and improve the operating characteristics of the system.